The New York Times (NYT) reported on Islamabad’s brutal suppression of protesters in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to which India objected. The US media report’s headline referring to the unlawfully seized Indian territory as “Pakistani Kashmir” was attacked by the Indian Embassy in the US for being “misleading and incorrect.”
The New York-based daily published a story with the headline that prompted the objection to the phrase. “Clashes Erupt in Pakistani Kashmir as Voting in Local Election Begins,”
referring to violence in PoK during local elections. “Misleading and incorrect headline by @nytimes. There is no Pakistani Kashmir, only Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” the embassy said in a post on X.
“The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. Pakistan has illegally occupied parts of these territories and is now using violence against the occupied people,” it added.
According to India, the entire Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir are essential and unalienable components of the country. Additionally, New Delhi claims that portions of these Union Territories have been under “illegal and forcible occupation” by Pakistan. Earlier this month, New Delhi condemned alleged police brutality against the demonstrators and stated that the rallies in PoK were a “direct consequence” of Islamabad’s decades-long “systemic exploitation and administrative oppression” in territories under its “forcible” occupation.
The report criticised by India was on violent clashes that broke out in PoK’s Mirpur area as police confronted people from a civil rights group who had gathered to protest police violence in the region. The report referred to PoK as ‘Pakistani-administered Kashmir,’ noting that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent rights body, has called for “an immediate end to this cycle of violence” and urged an independent investigation into the reported deaths and injuries.
A brutal crackdown by Pakistani security forces on protesters in PoK this week has reportedly left more than 30 civilians dead and over 33 injured. The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) has been leading the protests amid local body elections in the PoK.
Since last month, the PoK has seen widespread demonstrations over atrocities against minorities, alleged political prejudice and administrative indifference, and exorbitant living expenses. During JAAC’s lengthy march from Rawalakote to Muzaffarabad, Pakistani security forces used deadly force on the demonstrators. According to the sources, the crackdown left over 33 protestors injured and over 30 civilians dead.
According to them, Usman Nazir, the brother of Umar Nazir, a member of the JAAC Central Committee, is among the deceased. The polls in PoK, according to New Delhi on Tuesday, are an attempt by Islamabad to conceal its “grave” human rights abuses in the area and conceal its illegal occupation.
